Frank Herbert Quotes

“Caution is the path to mediocrity. Gliding, passionless mediocrity is all that most people think they can achieve.”

“Enemies strengthen you. Allies weaken you.”

“Governments can be useful to the governed only so long as inherent tendencies toward tyranny are restrained.”

“History is a constant race between invention and catastrophe.”

“If we deny emotion, we lose all touch with our internal universe.”

“If you live in bad faith, lies will appear to you like the truth.”

“If you want immortality, then deny form. Whatever has form has mortality. Beyond form is the formless, the immortal.”

“Membership in a conspiracy, as in an army, frees people from the sense of personal responsibility.”

“Most civilisation is based on cowardice. It's so easy to civilize by teaching cowardice. You water down the standards which would lead to bravery. You restrain the will. You regulate the appetites. You fence in the horizons. You make a law for every movement. You deny the existence of chaos. You teach even the children to breathe slowly. You tame.”

“Most men go through life unchallenged, except at the final moment.”

“Small souls who seek power over others first destroy the faith those others might have in themselves.”

“The beginning of knowledge is the discovery of something we do not understand.”

“The best prophets lead you up to the curtain and let you peer through for yourself.”

“The only past which endures lies wordlessly within you.”

“The problem of leadership is inevitably: Who will play God?”

“The truth always carries the ambiguity of the words used to express it.”

“The undeserving maintain power by promoting hysteria.”

“War is the most readily available form of chaos.”

“Wealth is a tool of freedom. But the pursuit of wealth is the way to slavery.”

“When I need to identify rebels, I look for men with principles.”

“Words can carry any burden we wish. All that's required is agreement and a tradition upon which to build.”

“You should never be in the company of anyone with whom you would not want to die.”